December 12/Second Friday of Advent “. . . Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.” ~ Luke 1.39 After Gabriel has delivered his life-changing message and fluttered off in winged elegance, what does a stunned Mary do? She rushes – the…
Author: Betsy Cahill
Keeping Advent 12: Blessed Are the Peacemakers
December 11/Second Thursday of Advent “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent are taking it by force.” ~ Matt 11.12 We are plagued, these days, by social division, profound political discord, and a violence of speech and action that is deeply disturbing. As we make our way forward in…
Keeping Advent 11: The Things We Carry
December 10/Second Wednesday of Advent Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.~ Matt 11.28 I have always found this to be one of the most comforting verses in all of Scripture. The idea of entrusting to Christ the heavy burdens I tote around – low-grade anxieties and high-grade…
Keeping Advent 10: The Waywardness that is Ours
December 9/Second Tuesday of Advent If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills and go in search of the stray? ~ Matt 18.12 In The Shepherd’s Life, his account of sheep-farming in England’s Lake District, the author James Rebanks describes a spring morning when a lamb…
Keeping Advent 9: Finding Favor, Finding Home
December 8/Second Monday of AdventSolemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary [The angel said to her,] “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.” ~ Luke 1.30 Finding favor with God can mean being asked to follow a path we have not considered, and upon which we have no desire to embark. Whatever…
Keeping Advent 8: Coattails
December 7/Second Sunday of Advent [John the Baptist said to the Pharisees and Sadducees,] “Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’” ~ Matt 3.8-9 Spiritual smugness and religious complacency are occupational hazards of participating in a two-thousand-year-old belief system. If we are fortunate enough to…
Keeping Advent 7: Bringing in the Harvest
December 6/First Saturday of Advent When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few, so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.” ~ Matt 9.36-38 However one…
Keeping Advent 6: Touch and Go
December 5/First Friday of Advent Then he touched their eyes and said, “Let it be done for you according to your faith.” And their eyes were opened. ~ Matt 9.29-30 A very wise mother I know once told me that when her daughter was a teenager and conversation grew fraught, the only form of communication she attempted was a brief…
Keeping Advent 5: Demolition by Neglect
December 4/First Thursday of Advent The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house. And it fell – and great was its fall! ~ Matt 7.27 Failure to build on a strong foundation is inevitably a pathway to collapse, whether one is constructing a house or a faith life. The obvious and salutary…
Keeping Advent 4: Being There
December 3/First Wednesday of Advent Moving on from there Jesus walked by the sea of Galilee, and going up onto the mountain he sat down there. Great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the maimed, the blind, the mute, and many others. They put them at his feet, and he cured them. ~ Matt 15.29 The Jesus…